Chapter 81

Daphne expected Osborn and Owen to follow them, but she didn’t expect that earned corpses to follow them as well. Their gaits were unnatural, stilted, and stuttering behind the vampires who had turned them. They walked back towards the manor through the cool night. Daphne struggled in John’s hold the entire way, but he ignored her struggling. When they reached the manor, they parted from Owen, Osborn, and the others. John pulled her down a hallway at a deft pace.

“What about them?” Daphne asked, her voice trembling as she tried to resist him. “Where are you taking me?”

John scoffed, yanking her after him, “They’ll be disposed of as is proper, and you’ll see when we get there, Your Highness.”

Daphne turned sharply, fearful and anxious. She dug her heels into the ground, making it harder for him to pull her along.

“Let me go,” she said, yanking at his grip. He stumbled a bit as she pulled, nearly pulling him off balance.

John growled, turning and pulling her up against him by her waist and half carrying her down the corridor. He had never encountered someone so difficult. The princess hadn’t been anything like this. In place of this fire, she avoided him with demure murmurs. This fight Daphne was putting up had to be because of her human ancestry.

“If you would stop struggling, this would all be much easier!” John hissed. “It’s your fault I had to resort to these measures.”

“Don’t blame me for your insanity!” Daphne cried, striking him in the face as she twisted around in his grip. He growled at her and turned his head away as she grabbed his face and tried to gouge his eyes out.

John huffed, throwing her to the ground to avoid being blinded. She kicked out, aiming for his shins. He yelped at the blow before grunting and catching her leg. She kicked with her other leg, aiming for his hand, but he caught her other leg and turned, dragging her across the ground.

“This is most unbecoming of a queen and my future wife!” He hissed. “I’ll be sure to teach you the proper way to comport yourself.”

Daphne twisted, scrambling to grab onto something. She wrapped her hands around the leg of a table. It creaked, groaned, and shrieked as he dragged her and the table through the corridor, racking up the long hall runner, embroidered with silver and gold.

“Honestly!” John growled, turning back to glare at her. “Your attachment to those mangy wolves is unseemly!”

His grip slipped and her pants tore just enough for her to crawl away from him. She scrambled to her feet and took off running down the hall. In a flash, he appeared in front of her growling and baring his fangs.

"Do not underestimate me, Your Highness–”

She punched him in the face as hard as she could manage. His face snapped to one side, stunning him, and she took off running around him and down the hall. She didn't know how long he would stay there in shock, but the farther away she got the better off she would be.

She didn't want to find out what he was planning to do to her.

A growl and a hiss came from behind her and he snatched her off her feet. She cried out jamming her elbow back into his face and kicking at his shins.

“The first thing I'm going to do when this is done is teach you a lesson. Unfortunately, I need you unharmed for the ceremony.”

Daphne’s eyes burned with tears as she struggled, but her luck had run out. He carried her down the corridor towards the secluded set of stairs and down into a dark basement. The air smelled stale and a bit damp like a cellar or the inside of a cave. The air sent goosebumps across her arms.

Her voice echoed in the room as the door slammed shut behind them. He carried her towards a large stone altar and slammed her down. Her head knocked against the stone, and she saw stars for a moment.

John rounded the altar, chaining her hands with soft clicks of the shackles. He rounded the altar towards her legs.

"The sooner you give in the easier this will be."

Daphne kicked him in the face. His nose ran red with blood and he turned to glare at her. His mouth closed with a click. He slammed her leg down to the stone altar. Pain shot up her leg as he closed the shackle around her ankle.

He shackled the other and walked away from the altar, but Daphne didn't stop struggling.

"It would have been easier if I'd had more time maybe. It's a shame that I hadn't thought to do this to your mother. I would have already been king.” He shook his head. “I should have learned from trying to be romantic take the last time.”

Daphne screamed hoping someone would hear her, yet she knew no one would. The only people in the manor were allied with John.

"No one is going to hear you," John said as he lifted a dagger from a faraway table.

Daphne leaned away from him, eyeing the dagger fearfully, "Stay away from me! You're insane!"

He drew the dagger across his palm with a little chuckle, “No, Your Highness. I simply know that I deserve better than a simple lordship.”

He crossed the room toward her and she twisted on an altar to try to throw herself off. He grabbed her by her jaw, squeezing her cheeks to force her jaw open. Daphne clenched her jaw trying to resist, but the pain forced her mouth open. He held her mouth open and pressed his bleeding palm to her mouth.

“Drink it.”

Daphne twisted and bit his hand, blowing air and bloodied saliva in his face. He hissed and leaned his weight on her chest, forcing her still as he squeezed his hand and dripped his blood into the back of her throat. She screamed and choked at the taste, but he didn’t let up, clenching his hand to keep the blood flow steady, just to be sure she ingested enough of it.

He didn’t know how much it would take to overcome her royal blood, but as her golden eyes began to glow and roll back into her head, he had a feeling it had been enough.

He pulled back grinning as she began to convulse on the altar.

“There’s no use fighting it,” John said, licking his lips. “Even if you are half-human, the vampire instincts always win out. Soon, you’ll forget that mutt and all will be as it should have been.”

Tears streamed from her eyes as blood and saliva foamed at the edges of her mouth.

She heard his voice beyond the burning in her throat and spreading like wildfire through the rest of her body. What was happening? What did he plan to do to her? Memories fluttered and danced through her mind's eye.

She thought of Arthur. She thought of his clear blue eyes like the sky and the sight of the werewolf kingdom’s castle. She thought of the little pouch of stones he wore around his neck and regretted not running away with him when she’d had the chance. She thought of the future that they would have together if she managed to get away.

When, she corrected, holding onto the thought as her consciousness began to drift.

If the child was a boy, she would name him after one of Arthur’s ancestors. If their child was a girl, she would name her after a flower. No matter what John's plans were, she had to hold on to that thought. She had to get back to the werewolf kingdom and the future they were supposed to have together. She had promised to come back.

She had promised. She held onto that thought as she lost all sense of time and place and hope that her baby would be okay.

John wasn't sure how long she convulsed, but when she finally stopped she turned eerily still. Her heart slowed to an almost imperceptible pace. Her fingers fluttered and her eyes move behind her eyelids.

As far as he was concerned, it was just a matter of time. He lifted her arm and sunk his teeth into the pale flesh there. Her blood was sweet and heady, filling him with a wave of power for an exquisite moment before the feeling vanished like it was cut short.

He pulled back, licking his lips with concern. The blood exchange was complete, yet he felt no different than if he’d drank from a normal human. Had he missed something?

He supposed only time would tell. At the least, they were bonded now and that would make her susceptible to him. He unshackled her slowly and lifted her from the table. He carried her back up the steps considering what to do with her. The issue of Nicole wasn’t solved and wouldn’t be solved easily.

He reached the ground floor and considered what to do.

“Is it done?” Osborn asked.

“It is,” he looked at the two of them. “We’ll need to dump her body headed towards the werewolf kingdom.

Osborn’s eyes widened in shock, “What is your plan?”

“It would be best if it seemed as though it was an escape attempt gone wrong.”

Osborn grinned, “Easily done.”